Communications plan or connections plan. Using connection planning to target and engage customers during the buying cycle.

When most marketers develop a communications plan, they start with their product or service, determining the target audience that represents the greatest revenue opportunity.  Smart marketers dig deeper to identify target insights, high-opportunity vertical segments or underdeveloped regions.

But if you want your marketing to go a step further and truly engage with customers, you should establish rich connections based on where they are in the purchase cycle.  This dimension is especially important if you are promoting a product with a long sales cycle, or a B2B brand.

For a prospect to consider selecting your brand, you must first establish a base level of knowledge and trust.  One quarter of the U.S. respondents to Edelman’s 11^th Annual Trust Barometer indicated that they needed to hear something about a company 6+ times before they believe it.  Note that they said “hear,” not “be exposed to.”  With advertising exposure exceeding 3,000 messages per day, it is critical that marketers connect with prospects, rather than simply shout at them.

To start creating a connection plan, consider how your brand relates to prospects in each of these stages:

Unaware and Unengaged:  This is the largest, but also the most passive target group.  They have unmet needs, but have yet to begin actively looking for a solution.

Increasingly Interested:  This group has started to show interest in your category and may be attending trade shows, beginning to read relevant articles or looking for informational webinars.

Actively Searching:  Prospects who are actively searching are driven by a pressing need.  They are researching specific solutions and beginning to establish impressions of brands that best fit that need.

Confirming Credentials and Chemistry: This group is actively going through the RFP process (whether formal or not), narrowing their options and determining which brand has the right solution at the right price.

Establishing the Relationship:  Communications shouldn’t stop when the sale is made.  The value that current users place on the relationship will make or break both referrals and incremental sales.

By customizing the media and message to align with each of these stages in the purchase cycle, marketers will have the foundation for a powerful, multi-touchpoint connection plan.

-          Pamela J. Alvord, EVP Managing Director of Strategy and Operations

Checking the Press in a Digital Age

The digital press check can be markedly different than the traditional press check. In a majority of instances, you never have to leave your office. Here are some basic tips to follow to ensure that you’ll have a successful experience.

1) What You See Is What You Get – When you review a proof for a digital press job, you’ll be looking at an actual press sheet printed from the digital press. And this is a key difference between digital printing and traditional printing.  The digital press gives the printer the capability of showing you exactly what you can expect on the actual paper you’ll be printing on.  While some proofing systems can run on the actual paper and generally serve the same purpose, you would have to go on a press check to make sure you’re getting an accurate representation of your client’s material.  With digital printing, you can check the sheet at your desk.

2) I Can See Clearly Now – Just like any traditional press check, you should carefully check for all the basics like type, color, clarity, crop marks, and any other potential problem areas.  Since you’re checking an actual press sheet, use a set of the color printouts of the final file you sent to the printer – this will give you something to check against, just in case there was an issue with the file.

3) The Times They Are A-Changing – Digital printing is the perfect fit when you’re using variable data to reach your client’s prospects. Look at the position of the variable data to make sure it is consistent in placement. Ask your printer to bring you several different press sheets so you can see a variety of line lengths for the names, addresses, and any other area that changes.  Remember to watch for type that might reflow in a paragraph due to length of the variable data.

4) Every Picture Tells a Story, Don’t It – When you have to “color match” a digitally printed piece that was previously printed on a traditional press, ask your printer to run some test sheets so you can see if you need to make any file adjustments. You may encounter this situation from time to time, so it is worth the minimal expense to maintain your client’s brand integrity.

– Tim Kedzierski, Production Manager

Are you listening to the voice of your customer?

Do you remember back in college when your Marketing 101 professor asked your class, “Who owns a brand?”  Even though it was more than 20 years ago, I remember it like it was yesterday.  And I remember my first thought – Proctor & Gamble, Unilever, Nabisco… they are the ones that own their brands.  Boy did I feel stupid when someone in the class said “the customer.”  Of course… the customer owns it.  Why didn’t I think of that?

The customer owns your brand.  So why is it that so many of us have forgotten it as we progress through our careers?  How could Starbucks, GAP and Tropicana, three extremely successful brands with smart leadership, possibly launch new branding efforts that incensed their customer bases if they were paying attention to customer needs and desires?  You would think companies like this would be very careful when launching new products, new campaigns or rebranding efforts.  Having the knowledge that brings a company closer to the true feelings of its target seems invaluable, but many companies are either going about it the wrong way or skipping it altogether.

Starbucks – Even though they did pretesting with consumers, ever since Starbucks recently announced that they were dropping the words “Starbucks Coffee” from their logo, the social media space has been on fire with dissent.  Sure… Starbucks needed the “freedom and flexibility to think beyond coffee,” but they could have gone about it in a much different way (like by just removing the word “coffee”!).

Starbucks’ blog page is loaded with negative comments.  Their Facebook page has thousands of negative posts about the logo.  And there are at least 50 new Facebook pages dedicated to bringing back the old logo!  And a lot of the feedback is coming from their most loyal customers.

Loyal customers have come out and said that they have “no relationship with the mermaid.”  A recent survey by ZURB found that 72 percent of consumers actually “hate” the new logo.  And experts have said that dropping the Starbucks name from the logo will confuse consumers who are not as familiar with the company.

Starbucks appears to be much better known by their name and green font, and not by the Siren.  Right now they are standing firm and holding their position.  Time will tell if it was a smart decision.

GAP – In an incident from last year, Gap changed their design from the classic, blue-and-white lettering to one thatsported a simpler Helvetica font.  Outraged consumers ignited a social media storm.  Gap responded by crowd-sourcing the design, and then they ultimately pulled the plug on the experiment and reverted back to the old logo.  The bad – they didn’t talk to consumers ahead of time and got caught in a massive storm of negative publicity.  The good – they quickly listened to the negative response from their customers and took action.

Tropicana – Customers were irate when Pepsi changed the packaging for this brand.  They complained through letters, e-mails, telephone calls and social media posts.  They said the new packaging resembled “a generic bargain brand” or “store brand,” and made it harder to distinguish among the varieties of Tropicana or differentiate Tropicana from other orange juices.  Pepsi bowed to public demand and is going back to the old packaging and brand symbol (the orange with the protruding straw).  They admitted to underestimating the deep emotional bond that customers had with the original packaging.  And they plan on contacting everyone who called or wrote them, to explain that they are changing things back.

There will always be backlash when companies try to change something.  That is human nature.  But the backlash in all three of these instances was extremely strong and volatile.  It makes you really wonder what kind of upfront research was conducted.

There are lots of additional examples – Andersen Consulting creating Accenture, Comcast creating Xfinity, and RadioShack trying to become The Shack.  Who can forget New Coke (customers loved the taste of New Coke – the problem here was that they never told focus group participants that they were taking classic Coke away!).  All of these have met with more than their fair share of criticism from current and potential customers, and caused damage to their brand.

You must listen to and engage with your customers.  Customers need to feel as if they own your brand. With today’s technology and social media explosion, it is easier to do than ever before.  Customers can now critique, talk back and connect with each other, and share stories and opinions.  Your brand has to be committed to listening to these discussions and engaging appropriately and transparently.  This doesn’t mean that the old forms of listening have gone away.  Direct discussions, interviews, surveys, focus groups, observation, warranty data, field reports – they are all still critical aspects of finding the voice of your customer.

Once you have the voice of your customer, make sure it spans your entire organization and influences all types of decisions… not just marketing ones.  It can help improve processes, service and products.  And by all means, please don’t let your brand become the next case study in what not to do!

– Stephen Weinstein, EVP Director of Account Management

Related articles

• Starbucks’ New Logo: A Risky Move (blogs.hbr.org)
• UPDATE 3-Starbucks cuts name, “coffee” from logo; stirs ire (reuters.com)

What will be hot in 2011?

More and more people are sharing their thoughts, receiving “up-to-the-minute” news updates, and taking advantage of deals and promotions from businesses. The idea being that if you receive it, then you can share it.

In addition to sharing thoughts, news, and promotions, people have begun to share their location by “checking in,” alerting followers to their whereabouts. Often using mobile devices to check in, these programs use GPS technology to share your location with others. Tap your device to check in when you patronize a business or arrive at a certain location, and your location is immediately shared. This type of sharing seems to be popular, as Foursquare, a location-based social networking site, logged more than 380 million check-ins, and grew 3,400% in 2010.

Mobile applications allow consumers to be in two places at once. It’s simply not enough to target your consumer in the store. In addition to the offline communication, one must penetrate the online market and connect directly with the consumer. Signage in your store to promote a new product must coincide with communication on a mobile app offering a discount. The ability to scan barcodes for that night’s ball game tickets can also be used to promote the concert that will be held at the same venue next week.

What do you think is going to be a hot trend in 2011? And, how will you break through the clutter?

– Jonathan Ginburg, Sr. Account Executive

Surviving the Social Media Storm

It snowed in Atlanta this week.

To a native Atlantan, that statement deserves a line on its own. Once “Winter Weather Advisory” is heard, people flock to grocery stores to prepare for the worst. An innocent bystander unaware of how much snow was on the horizon may think that Atlanta was about to be hit with enough snow to collapse the Georgia Dome. Instead, we only got 5 inches. But again…

It snowed in Atlanta this week.

And I mention this because snow in Atlanta can be as foreign to Southerners as social media is to marketing executives with little experience online.

Grocery stores are mob scenes before it snows. People don’t know what they need or how much they need; they just know they want it. And the same can be said about social media. Many companies know about social media. They know they want to use it, but they don’t know what, or how, or why. Without a plan or a goal in mind, social media results will just fall flat.

Now that it’s 2011, more and more companies are finding the need to use social media. And yet, some still don’t know why.

My suggestion? Stop thinking about Social Media as MEDIA. It should really be called Online Interaction. Accounts are created to strengthen the communication with customers. Yet, companies are creating accounts without thinking of how to get the most benefit from it. A marketer would never say, “We need to be on TV,” without knowing what kind of ROI would justify spending that much money. Before jumping into the latest fad of Online Interaction, take a minute to map out the purpose for being online, be it to establish dialogue with those already engaged with the brand, or to provide customer service to those seeking it.

And, while trying to figure out the purpose, establish goals for what being online will accomplish. Is there a desire to have comments posted about what is posted? Will there be an opportunity to talk with the consumer in order to establish dialogue? If Web traffic is increased, what should these new visitors do on the company site that will result in a positive return for being online? Let this new online interaction be an open door to further the consumer experience.

Once the purpose and goals are set in place, share it with employees. Let employees talk about it on their own online accounts. If there is a strong purpose with clear goals in place, but poor promotion of the online existence, then results will be weak. This may sound silly, but an online interaction continuously feeds off of, just that, interaction online. And the more that fellow colleagues can develop, the better the results.

Establishing a strong presence online is an ongoing process. Companies cannot create an account and leave it, hoping that friends, followers, and fans will continue to build. This is done through a constant stream of discussion. Once that has been established on the big three (Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube), explore new ways to connect with the audience. The age of Social Media is only 6-7 years old, so the “right” way for a soft-drink company may not be the best way for a shoe company. By experimenting with different sites (GoWalla, Digg, Flickr, Friendstr, Groupon, etc.) the online interaction may prove even more suitable than Facebook.

Social Media isn’t new, and is always changing. But having a plan, setting goals ahead of time, and letting fellow employees participate will increase the results of social media efforts. And it won’t feel like you’re scrapping around like we do down South due to winter storm warnings.

– Jonathan Ginburg, Sr. Account Executive

The five stages of social media grief. Or how I learned to stop worrying about the bomb.

In the last couple years, we in advertising and marketing have had to deal with a lot of what could be called destructive change. Part of this has been from the economy, and also a good deal has come from social media.

And as 2010 closes, it’s great to see how far we’ve made it as an industry with integrating social media into our practices. For those of us already there, it’s taken more than a few steps:

The first stage is denial. This denial usually isn’t that social media exists but that it has any relevance at all. People in stage one often say, “I don’t care what anyone had for breakfast.”

The second stage is anger. Most marketing managers feel that they already have enough on their plate; it’s only natural that a new, unwanted burden should, well, piss them off. You’ll hear people in stage two muttering about Facebook or putting expletives in front of the word Twitter.

The third stage is bargaining.  Bargaining often revolves around stakeholders trying to get someone else to handle the burden of responsibility. Hiring an intern often occurs in this stage.

The fourth stage is depression. This is when the responsibility is accepted and the burden of learning is taken on. Mood swings are a regular occurrence in this stage.  One minute, the griever is excited by the possibilities and the next overwhelmed by the sheer size of the space.

The fifth stage is acceptance. Once the learning curve starts to bend down, the depression starts to subside. You can easily recognize when someone is in this stage because this is when they start talking intelligently about integrating Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube into marketing plans. Because they can start to see the real benefits of this new form of engagement. This is when the grief ends and magic can finally begin to happen.

If you’re still working your way through these stages, don’t fret, you’ll get there. It’s part of the new marketing landscape, and the sooner we’re able to fully accept it the sooner we’ll reap its rewards.

– Jimmy Gilmore, Senior Copywriter

It’s Déjà vu all over again

As long as I have been in this business, I’ve heard the saying, “There are no new ideas, only old ones recycled.” I think we’re seeing that played out again with regard to test marketing. A staple of the direct marketing industry, it had fallen out of use by other marketing disciplines in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

When I started in the agency business, testing was a priority for a number of accounts that the agency handled.

I’ll throw out a few terms: “Little U.S.” and “As-It-Falls” (which one coworker thought referred to an actual market in the Midwest called “Acid Falls”). These referred to the methodologies we media folk used so that results from any test could be projected to a larger area, most often the entire U.S.

Test markets were selected based on their ability to replicate what the U.S. as a whole looked like. Additionally, they needed to be smaller in geographic scope so as to limit out-of-pocket cost. A few of the more popular test markets were Fort Wayne, Green Bay, and Tucson.

As the business moved into the ‘80s, testing seemed like an afterthought. One of the reasons may have been that the cost of production started to increase dramatically, and running expensive spots in small, inexpensive test markets may have thrown the media cost/production cost ratio out of whack. In any event, I can’t remember a single brand that I worked on during that time that did any testing.  And I find that interesting, given the primary reason for any test is to limit financial exposure.

Fast forward to the turn of the century and the spread of the Internet, and what’s back in style is the concept of testing, analyzing, and optimizing. An idea whose roots are firmly entrenched in the earlier days of advertising is making its way back in a big way. And that’s a good thing.

Testing should be an integral part of any plan. The more we learn, the better we are, and the better our clients are as a result.

The advent of the Internet has only strengthened the case for testing. As I said at the beginning, “There are no new ideas, only old ones recycled.” But a good idea always has a place.

– Dave Capano, EVP, Director of Media Services

Office Pools – the epitome of compelling, measurable engagement

It’s been said that U.S. employers lose an estimated $1.8 billion in productivity during March Madness.  What is it about office pools that not only drives employees to spend so much time planning, watching, and discussing, but also drives employers to look the other way?

Whether it’s “March Madness,” college football bowl pools, or even the weekly football pick ’em, office pools are a compelling form of entertainment that provides an office common ground in a friendly, competitive environment.

The days of copying a sheet of paper and turning it in to the office pool manager have succumbed to the digital age.  One only has to type ”office pool” into Google to see page upon page of office pool variations with free and pay-to-play websites and software.  Many of these websites and software provide tips and post-pick analytics in real time, so that everyone can see the results and how they rank against the competition.

It’s a time when the office sports geeks and sports agnostics are on the same wavelength, as employees become more engaged with one another.  Water-cooler talk turns from gossip to last night’s upset and today’s Cinderella.

Maybe employers look the other way because it’s an easy way to improve employee morale, or maybe it’s just because they’re in on the action, too.  Regardless, it’s easy to see why something as compelling, measurable, and engaging as office pools continue in the work environment.

With that, feel free to join us in some compelling, measurable engagement by participating in the 2010 Kilgannon College Bowl Pool.  It’s free to play, and you could win a gift card.

– Gary Sayers, VP, Account Director

We’re connected, but are we really connecting?

Look around you.  When you are out at a restaurant, how many folks do you see typing away on their iPhone or BlackBerry, and ignoring their family or friends?  When you are at your kid’s soccer game, how many parents do you see paying more attention to their phone than to what their child is doing on the field?  The same question can be posed for business meetings, movies, concerts, parties, sporting events… and the list goes on and on.

When you wake up each morning, is checking your Twitter or Facebook account one of the first things that you do?  Do you go home from work and immediately get on your computer or your phone?  Have you ever sent a tweet from the dinner table?  Have you ever sat in a business meeting with your laptop and found yourself on a social-networking site?  Do you have friends on Facebook whom you haven’t spoken with in 20 years who know more about what’s going on in your life than your parents do?

We think we are being social on these gadgets, but are we really?

Don’t get me wrong.  I love technology, and I do my fair share of social networking, but it has become increasingly interesting to me how social media has made it easier for people to connect… in much less meaningful and rich ways.  Sure, we’re connected, but are we really connecting?  Do we truly understand and communicate with each other?

And what is suffering?  In my opinion… time, focus, and productivity.

• Time: Quality face-to-face time with family, important business contacts and close friends, or time to read a good book, partake in a meaningful hobby, or do whatever it is you enjoyed doing prior to the social media explosion.
• Focus: Multitasking just doesn’t work.  Are you really focused on your family or work (or driving a car) if you keep bouncing back and forth between them and your texts, tweets, or status updates?
• Productivity: This one is pretty obvious… and not just for the workplace.

Social media definitely helps me stay connected to the activities and opinions of my friends and family.  I think it is great for that.  But should I really be taking the time to care about what some guy from my high school whom I haven’t talked to in more than 20 years has to say about his dream from last night?

Here’s a scary statistic.  A September poll by Harris Interactive said that among 18-34-year-olds, just 27 percent said they would rather see friends in person than communicate through social media.  Where are we headed?  Is human interaction actually at risk?

Regardless, social media cannot continue to be about having lots of friends and followers.  It needs to be about expanding your network and making connections with individuals and businesses that might add value to your life in some way.  And just to be clear, I really don’t care if you just woke up and think that it is gonna be a wonderful day, or if you just checked in at the OK Café, or if you need one more cow to complete your farm.

– Stephen Weinstein, Director of Account Management

Baking and Marketing, the Fundamentals Are the Same

Forget about decking the halls, fighting the mall crowds, or even singing carols (at least in public); for me, the holiday season has always been about baking.  This year, as I fired up my trusty red KitchenAid mixer on Black Friday, I was struck by the similarities between baking and good marketing.

1. Start with a Recipe

Sure, a little experimentation is great now and then, but make sure the basics are in place before you deviate from the core direction.  A marketer’s impulsive cry of “We need to be on Twitter” or “Get me more Facebook likes” is the baking equivalent of “Let’s just toss in some peanut butter.” It might be great or it might just ruin the whole thing.

2. Use the Right Tools

Whether your favorite spatula, grandmother’s measuring spoons, or the perfectly shaped pan, the right tools are critical.  For marketing, this might be a promotional offer, a blog, or a brand campaign – any of them might be effective, as long as they aid in the execution of the recipe (or for marketers, the strategy).

3. Measurement Is Key

If Google analytics, conversion metrics, social media mentions, and net promoter scores are the ounces, pounds, cups, and tablespoons of marketing, then your scorecard is the final taste test.  Did you earn 5 stars or 3?  Without measurement, you won’t know where you stand or if you have improved.

4. Don’t Overlook Simplicity

A single ingredient is rarely great on its own (I can’t be the only one who has fallen victim to the captivating smell of vanilla, only to recoil in horror after tasting it).  And the layered flavors of multiple ingredients sure can be tasty, but simple is magical.   Who would imagine that something as exquisite as a meringue could come from the combination of egg whites, sugar, and a touch of vanilla?  Bakers and marketers alike would benefit from focusing less on the number of elements and more on the way in which they are combined.

5. Offer Only Your Best

No amount of presentation can cover up bad execution.  Even if your guests don’t say anything, they will notice if you scrimped on the sugar, didn’t bake it long enough, or tried to cover the burned pieces with frosting.  So don’t be afraid to start over or bring in the experts to ensure that you can confidently stand behind anything that you serve.

The annual strategic planning timeline for most companies aligns nicely with holiday baking season.  Coincidence?  Perhaps not . . .

–Pam Alvord, EVP Chief Brand Strategist